The Fallen Family - Reprise
by DarkValkyriaJ
Summary: Walking through Domino on a winter afternoon, Yugi quite literally stumbles across a tiny, vampire child who looks eerily like himself. In a moment of desperation he decides to bring the poor creature home, forgetting what wondrous fantastical beasts of mythology are already awaiting.


'Why me?' Yugi asked himself, bringing his hands to his face in an attempt to breathe warmth back into his fingertips. Despite his bright yellow gumboots reaching his knees, snow and slush had still found its way into his socks. It melted into an icy slush, embracing his foot with a new wave of cold each step. He raised the hood of his raincoat up in an attempt to protect his hair, failing to notice it had begun collecting rain like a bucket until the water was running down his spine. He balled his saturated hands into a fist, distracting himself from the temptation to swear with the sight of fog on his breath.

Domino City crawled forward each year, adding a new street, or a new alleyway. What was once empty field signifying the end of his mission became another megastore he was forced to inspect, and Yugi found himself wondering when was the last time anyone else had offered to do the mammoth task instead of him. It must have been thirty, if not forty years, since even Ryou had offered to keep him company.

'One more,' he reassured himself, a spring entering his step as he retreated to the dark of the last alleyway. Yugi hummed, fanaticising a warm welcome and hot cocoa waiting before a brilliant stone fireplace. Something caught his foot - a murky brown puddle muting the opening theme of Cardcaptor Sakura as Yugi found himself face-first crashing into the pavement. He groaned - a long, tired groan, before he even bothered to lift his head out of the suspicious mud. He wiping it off his cheek, scolding himself as he glanced back at what had tripped him.

Yugi Mutou had seen many strange things in his life, reflections that danced on their own and creatures turn from one form to another before his eyes, but for the first time in years he found himself genuinely shocked.

A child, the tiny frame of a boy no older than seven years old, pulled a hessian potato sack closer as he sat beside a dumpster. He brought his knees back up to his chest, trying to trap what was left of the warmth his body could provide. Yugi's eyes opened up wider as he inched forward, the child stranger yet. Their hairstyle was striking similar, almost identical black spikes dipped in red framed with a golden mess of fringe.

As he extended his arm to what could have easily been mistaken for a corpse, it lurched forward. His eyes had no time to focus as the blur exposed its fangs and latched onto his arm, breaking skin as it searched for a vein. Yugi didn't think to scream, or even call for help - he sat more comfortably and watched the child's meek attempt to drink this blood.

'Must be a vampire,' he mused.

Almost as quickly as the assault had begun, the creature withdrew his fangs and released his arm. He quickly looked over his victim, eyes rolling back as his head began to drop. Yugi caught him before he hit the ground, shocked for the second time that day at the unconscious child's weight. He brought the paperweight person closer to himself, wrapping his own jacket around the smaller version of himself.

"You poor thing," he cooed, easily lifting the child in his arms. He was cold, even for a vampire, and disgustingly young. Yugi asked himself who would have turned such a young person, only to abandon them. He had to consider the situation another minute, wrinkles of frustration growing over his nose as he looked for any sign of territory before the weather drove him to rash action. He was wet and miserable, and the child was far worse. Trying to reassure the knot in his stomach that it was coincidence he was so close, Yugi turned sharply towards home and the promise of safety and warmth with the vampire still wrapped in his coat. Just coincidence, with a touch of fate.

The building he affectionately called home was a stonemason's palace, fortified by a cast iron fence that stood well over twice his height. The letterbox had fallen from its perch with wear, envelopes adorned with stamps from the 1920s still scattered over the footpath. Its reputation was so formidable even drunk college kids avoided the haunted house on Blackjack Lane, and for once rumours held true. For the rare situations where something stronger than alcohol motivated adolescents to scale the fence, sight of the sandy-coloured hound sprawled across the front step was enough to send them fleeing.

It raised its head at the creaking of the metal gate hinges, lip raised as it began to growl. It rose to its feet as Yugi gave an exhausted look, shaking his head as a glop of foamy saliva ran down its chin.

"Really, Joey? Is this really necessary?" he asked in dismay as the wolf creature began stalking forward. The growling became more intense in response.

Yugi bounced the child still hidden from view, adjusting his grip. He began walking forward, casually side-stepping when the wolf lunged. Claws grated against concrete like a fork against porcelain, Yugi dodging a second lunge from the rabid creature on his way to the door.

He realised the vampire was so light he could cradle him in one arm, knocking with his free hand. The wolf dragged its belly against the ground, crawling towards its now cornered prey.

"Who's there?" A voice asked from behind the heavy timber door, the peephole sliding open to reveal an eyeball seemingly fixed to the door. Its focused seemed to bounce from distraction to distraction in the outside world, dilating as it landed on Yugi's much shorter frame.

"Open the door," Yugi said with all the calmness one could expect in the situation, a vein on his forehead appearing ready to burst. The wolf stood so tall it blocked out the sun, head raised proudly as though considering its final attack carefully.

"Password?" The voice asked with a faked English accent. Yugi pressed his finger into a buzzer, causing the team of trouble to freeze. Silence gave away the intercom had been answered, Yugi forced onto his tiptoes to reach the microphone and extremely dated camera.

"The dog's loose again," he said with a sheepish smile. The red recording light flickered out as a friendly arm wrapped itself around the boy's shoulder, pulling him into a friendly hug that nearly crushed the vampire child.

"Hey Yuug!" A boy greeted him warmly, standing where the werewolf had vanished. He shoved Joey off playfully, despite the werewolf easily having the strength to snap them in half if he wished. "What kept you so long?"

"I actually found someone!" Yugi exclaimed with a sudden rush of excitement, revealing the child cradled in his arms. His head lulled unnaturally to the side, Yugi frowning as he quickly bounced the boy in hopes of it falling into a more natural position. The ragdoll slumped forward, and Yugi pulled him close again.

Joey canine ears dropped flat against his mess of dirty blonde hair. He inhaled deeply, winced, and covered his nose as an offensive smell reached heightened senses. "Is it dead?"

"No," Yugi scowled. Joey discreetly tried to smell the vampire again, shaking his head as he stepped back again.

"I think it's dead," he repeated with a nasally squeak, holding his nose shut. Behind them, the eyeball in the door popped loose. An opaque hand came through the door, catching it before it hit the dirty stoop. The rest of the apparition soon followed, Tristan almost appearing solid as he leaned towards Yugi.

"I'm pretty sure it's dead," he observed, only half outside as he attempted to force his eye back into his skull. It was like catching jello with a straw, if the jello was a sentient blob actively trying to avoid you and your shoelaces were tied together. Yugi growled under his breath as the boys fell into their usual antics, Joey attempting to steal the eyeball off him. Tristan tripped over his own feet trying to dodge him, falling in slow motion to the ground as his eyeball fell out of his grip. It fell into his eye socket with the sound of someone bursting a laundry pod, Joey applauding as Tristan jumped up to bow.

"Would you please open the door?" Yugi begged again, audibly whining as his fingertips turned pale.

"I think Kaiba's going to have your head for this one, pal," Tristan said with a sympathetic grin, and Joey nodded solemnly. The wooden door slowly creaked open and Yugi took off up the stairs as quickly as possible, while the two left behind began humming a funeral march. They looked between each other boredly, Joey turning back to canine form as he returned to his job guarding the house. Tristan followed him, sitting beside the horse-sized hound with a sigh.

As easily as he had taken out his eyeball, the ghost pulled on his left arm until it tore at the elbow. Joey's tail began thudding against the ground as the limp limb was waved in his face, Tristan throwing his arm across the yard and narrowly avoiding the dog bolting across the yard, catching it between his teeth before it hit the ground. He trotted back and dropped it at the ghost's feet, bouncing around before he sat obediently waiting for the arm to be launched again.

Yugi had been doing well. he made his way around the third flight of stairs, trying to ignore the burning sensation in his legs. He adjusted the child in his arms to lighten the load, tiny hands holding onto his jacket as the creature began to stir. He looked a less deathly shade of pale, opening his eyes for a moment only to fall asleep again in Yugi's arms. Yugi pushed his weight gently against the second bedroom door with a great sigh of relief, comforted by the sight of organised chaos he called own. He placed the tiny figure in his bed, hidden under a pastel yellow blanket and galaxy print comforter. The child make a pleased moan, pulling the blankets up to his neck in a daze. Yugi moved to close the curtains, smile vanishing in an instant as he noticed a third reflection in the window pane.

"Where the devil have you been?" the figure boomed as loud as a clap of thunder, and the little vampire screamed. Yugi quickly went to console him, but he dove under the bed in a blur of inhuman speed. He gently facepalmed, sitting casually on the bed so that his dangling legs became a curtain for the monster under the bed to hide behind.

"Seto, good morning!" he greeted warmly, despite it only being minutes from sundown. For someone unprepared, the sight of Seto Kaiba alone would have been enough to cause a heart attack. The right side of his face was covered in a strange rune pattern of scars that seemed to beckon the eye upwards to two small blue horns protruding from his brunette hair. From underneath a grey trench coat he wore just to be more imposing, a blue, arrow pointed tail cut through the air, dancing like an aggravated cat's. Everything about his persona screamed danger, the atmosphere itself turning tense and cold with his projected aura.

For Yugi, it was simply height. Seto Kaiba was unfairly tall, towering over the tenshi almost cruelly as he walked towards him.

"What is it?" he asked with a scowl. Yugi opened his mouth but said nothing, pulling up his sleeve to reveal the small, bloody bite mark. His luminous blue eyes fell to the floor, glaring at where the child has last been. Yugi jumped down to the floor almost protectively, trying to move as slowly as possible as he laid on his stomach to look into the dark. The child had pressed himself into the furthest corner under the bed, visibly shaking with terror. His chest moved unnaturally quickly as he panted for air, looking desperately for an escape. Yugi tried to shush him, offering his famous friendly smile.

"It's alright, what's your name?" he asked quietly, giving the child plenty of time to respond. He moved further away on the light of the bed, almost flat against the wall.

He heard Kaiba swore, and the floor creaked as the demonic figure dropped impatiently onto his knee.

"Name," he ordered as coldly as ever. The child stared at him with glowing red eyes, trying to assess the stranger. His eyes followed the whip-like action of the tail hypnotically, and to Yugi's surprise he settled.

"Yami, I think," the child finally said with unmistakable nerves and uncertainly. It posed more questions than answers, yet Yugi looked towards the demon with a hopeful glint in his eye. Kaiba looked more closely at the creature under the bed, and then to Yugi, rolling his eyes as he stood to exit the room.

"Fine," he answered the silent question of 'can we keep him?'.

"Thanks Kaiba!" Yugi said in delight, cleaning his room in a fury. Yami crawled forward an inch at a time, watching a pile of dirty clothes amass into a mountain by the door. The photographs had to be straightened, and the clock set to the right time according to his watch, even though Yugi knew his watch hadn't been set to the right time for a few years now.

With a 180° twist, he dropped to the floor beside the bed. Yami crawled backwards until he stubbed his toe on the bedframe, yelping and falling onto his side as he clutched his food. He noticed a black feather beside his head. Wrinkles of confusion forming over his nose, he took it in his hand. Then he noticed another, and before long had a bouquet of the strange stark black feathers. They were as soft as down, and he inched forward again.

"What do you have there, Yami?" he asked softly. The twig arm stretched as long as possible, a shaking hand offering it to the stranger. Yugi's eyes gleamed joyously, reminding himself so calm down his actions as he accepted the gift.

"Thank you!" he said, forced to sit up. Yami crawled out, sitting in a ball against the bed-side table should he need to retreat again. Yugi gave him a quick warning as his jacket fell away, and dull white wings sprung off his back in an explosion of feathers. Each wing was easily twice Yugi's height, pressing against the wall on each side of the room. Yami watched a loose feather change colour as it floated to the ground, and then Yugi hold the duster-worth of feathers he had collected against his left wing. They shuffled themselves back into the source, the black washing away back to white. His wings reacted clumsily to every gesture of his arm, Yami beginning to look almost relaxed as he ducked one picking up more feathers from the ground and offered them to the angel.

"You can keep those." Yugi watched the sheer surprise wash over Yami's face, only to be replaced with absolute, unbridled joy as he quietly collected the feathers, placing them on the bed upon realizing he had no pockets. He stared at the pile of feathers while Yugi forced back into the magically enhanced blue leather coat, missing the tears beginning to form in the little vampire's eyes.

"I'm sorry I bit you," Yami apologized in a hoarse whisper, looking shamefully at the ground. Yugi smiled, resting a hand on the black mess of hair. Yami flinched and looked up at his face fearfully.

"I'm sorry I probably didn't taste that good," he apologized with a wink. Yami couldn't hold it back any longer, whole face seeming to light up as he laughed.


End file.
